twiztor

this thread has become a one-stop shop for upcoming fights. in an effort to engage discussion and hate, here are my all-time favorite fighters, ranked by (UFC) weight class. Heavyweight (206+) a. Andrei Arlovski. i LOVE the late-career comeback he's on (win or lose vs. Mir this Saturday), but he was the reason i gave the Affliction events any interest. Hell, i even watched those two (or three?) ProElite events. my #1 most wanted match is Arlovski vs CroCop. b. Antonio 'Bigfoot' Silva. sure, the luster has worn off with the illegalization of TRT, but Bigfoot at once time was a can't-miss dude. i still root for him. c. Fedor Emelianenko. come on, you can't go undefeated for 30+ fights over the course of Pride/Affliction/Strikeforce without swaying my opinion eventually. dude was unstoppable then. Light Heavyweight (186-205) a. Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson. his interviews are as entertaining as his fights. This is a guy that always said what he wanted, and was usually able to back it up. When he couldn't, you fucking knew it. b. Wanderlei Silva. Pride-era especially. 'nuff said. c. Kazushi Sakuraba. would be #1 but his career (and subsequent beatings) drop him down for me. Always a joy to watch. so much spontaneous greatness. Middleweight (171-184) a. Chris Leben. my all-time favorite fighter. Always left everything he had out there. never the most talented or gifted, but you knew you were getting a fight when he was on the card. b. Ikuhisa Minowa. some weird combination of persona, attitude, and fighting ability (not necessarily fighting style). in that order, probably. Welterweight (156-169) a. Karo Parisyn. i honestly don't even know why. His judo throws were awesome. EVERY SINGLE UFC FIGHT went to decision, but i still loved to watch him. b. Carlos Newton. one of the first lower class (at the time) fighters to catch my interest. brought a lot of new techniques to the forefront. Lightweight (146-154) a. Roger Huerta. maybe this was just the UFC hype machine doing its job, but i loved watching this dude fight. b. Joe Lauzon. joe-jitsu master and a guy that, even when overmatched, still can show you a thing or three. c. Jeremy Stephens. irrational love. no explanation. i think for some reason it stems from Jens Pulver, but i really don't know how or why. Featherweight (136-145) a. Jose Aldo. he won me over in WEC and never let up. Bantamweight (145-) a. Renan Barao. maybe it's because of the fun in shouting out his last name (it's become a go-to as far as sexual insults among my friends BA-RAO! b. Marlon Moraes. admittedly, i haven't followed WSOF in probably a year or so, but he caught my attention in a weight class that few do. Bantamweight (Women's, 145-) a. Miesha Tate. partially the rivalry with Rousey. partially that she thinks she's a face but is clearly the heel. partially the brutal beatdowns she takes before the comeback. Strawweight (Women's, 115-) *this being a very recent division in the UFC, i have a few potentials but nobody has solidified a spot yet for me. either that, or i'm drunk at 4 AM and just can't think of their name. either one, really. **you may notice that there's no flyweight rankings. i just haven't been enthralled yet. i hope someday it happens. **also, Ken Shamrock is my old school favorite, mainly due to seeing him in the WWF in '97 and beyond.

so, this is the final set of tv tapings, correct? has TNA announced ANY plans for what happens next? new tv network? youtube channel? a WWE network show? "going out of business" sale?

same here. but i still want to see video of the unsanctioned Tito Ortiz/Eugene Jackson fight from 1999ish. then i will personally count it.

i blacked out, dreamed the board was down, but now i'm awake and drinking again. so all is well.

some friends and i were watching SummerSlam '98 over the weekend, and in it, Sable powerbombs Marc Mero. We were joking that Brock should start using the powerbomb, and the announcers call it the Sablebomb.

my guess would be that its a "the views expressed are of the individual and do not represent the station" kinda deal

i haven't been too far for wrestling. the iWireless Center / Mark of the Quad Cities (in Moline, IL) for a number of Raws and a SmackDown (including a WWECW show) Allstate Arena in Chicago Rosemont, IL for WrestleMania 22 Ford Field in Detroit for WM23 and the local Knights of Columbus hall for a very, very shitty indy that i don't believe has been back since. edit: apparently they have been back a few times since and i guess just slipped my radar. unless you count my backyard, there were a good number of wrestling matches that took place there. someday, they may actually even make it to YouTube.

this sounds like EXACTLY how i play Diablo.

funny you should mention Umaga. who was it he was fed to?

WWF Shotgun Saturday Night, 8/29/98 can't find video online, but the Headbangers face off against the Pitbulls. there were a couple of Pitbulls signs from the fans, which surprised me, until i remembered that this was in Philadelphia.

finally got around to watching Amazing Spider-Man 1 & 2 in the last two weeks. #1 was underwhelming but ultimately OK. found it odd that he never caught Uncle Ben's killer. they devoted a significant amount of time to that, and then just never followed up on it. thought maybe they were leaving it open for the sequel, but there wasn't even a passing reference to it. Andrew Garfield was perfectly fine as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, but he wasn't amazing or anything. no pun intended. the Lizard was done fairly well, although it was a very quick turnaround from "i want to regrow my arm" into "i want to change the entire planet into lizards". #2 wasn't very good at all and i was bored for most of it. they storyline of his parents never plays to any significant reveal (he doesn't even tell Aunt May what he found?), the tacked-on Rhino bit at the end was really quite dumb, and the on-again, off-again relationship with Gwen was ridiculous. Jamie Foxx's character Max was interesting, but i felt that once he got his electric powers any character development went out the window. same for Harry Osbourne's transformation into a non-named Green Goblin. who was also felled quite easily. i DID like how they played with expectations. the first time Harry dropped Gwen, the subway transformation, watching Max come so close to becoming Electro before it actually happened.

i was always a fan of Savio Vega. not really sure why. i'm not Puerto Rican nor from the Bronx. He's not the greatest wrestler (although he's certainly capable of good matches). He's not that great on the mic. doesn't matter. if he showed up in the Rumble this year, i'd still root for him.

finished my read of the '92-'94 Malibu Comics. it started off with just wanting to read 'the Protectors' and quickly blossomed out into also reading the spin-offs. then i found out the "Genesis" storyline crossed over with the 'Ex-Mutants' and "Dinosaurs For Hire' series. also checked out 'Dead Clown' since it was mentioned a few times and only 3 issues. thoughts: the Protectors series proper was awesome. i absolutely loved it. all the spinoffs were at least decent. Did a good job adding backstory to individual characters. Ex-Mutants was ok. The first issue wasn't very good but it picked up steam as it went along. there were a few dropped plots. then the protags all got superpowers and the comic jumped the shark. Dinos for Hire wasn't good. Not funny, the plot was as thin as the paper it was printed on, the the crossover wasn't. Dead Clown was ok for what it was. expected little, and got about that. the only thing i couldn't find (although i didn't look too terribly hard) was the Miss Fury 4-issue miniseries from a year or so before the Protectors started. oh well.

this is correct. Giant turns on Sting in the buildup to the tag title match. i don't really remember it being explained why. and i just watched it a couple months ago.

LOVE Shane-O-Mac. i know i brought it up in another thread a month or so back, and it's been discussed here, but his KotR street fight with Kurt Angle remains one of my favorite matches of all time. SOOOO sadistically brutal. the suplexes to (not through) the glass panes are cringeworthy. when this match is on, i am transfixed. his match with Shawn Michaels on SNME leading up to WrestleMania 22 was better than the HBK/Vince match. i don't remember the match, but i definitely remember hating his run as European Champion. that "X-Punk" jersey is ridiculous. looking forward to revisiting 1999 next year. his series of matches with Kane in 2003 were a lot of fun too. they really don't get enough love.

OH HELL YEAH! this fight would've headlined anywhere in 2011/2012 or whenever. But i still want to see it. DOUBLE YES! i love me some one night tournaments!!

i also dug incorporating the Dark Knight Rises breathing apparatus with his Lucha/more classic look. LOVE Batman '66, although i miss the dc2 motion aspect of it.

i really just hope this is a sign of the amiibo craze dying out and/or supply starting to meet demand.

Big Fresh, i just ran across this. not sure if you already have this figured out or not, but GameStop has a retro 3-pack of amiibos from preorder. ROB, Mr. Game & Watch, Duck Hunt Dog. preordered mine. http://www.gamestop.com/accessories/amiibo-retro-3-pack-exclusive/123757

look, don't get me wrong here. i was never completely sold on Cain due to him not showing much technical prowess. He was big, and he could take a punch, and he could maul you like a bear. but i always figured that once somebody with some high level skill got in the mix, he could potentially be in trouble. JDS's striking showed it in their first match (not so much after that tho) and the Werdum fight showed it there too. But i also don't hate on Cain. he's a scary mofo, and was/is regularly beating big bad dudes. i honestly don't know if i would rather fight Cain or a bear. Two title defenses. Nothing you list can change the fact that he had two title defenses. you mean "tied for the most HW title defenses in the history of the UFC?" Can we also talk about how one of those title defenses was against a clearly outmatched Bigfoot, who Cain had already destroyed once?

got my ROB the other day. came with Gyromite and a complete set of gyros and holders and all that jazz. worked awesomely. fell in love. then my NES stopped working yesterday. fingers crossed that it's just the AC adapter, but if not i guess i'll be shelling out for another top loader. update: thankfully, i bought a new AC adapter today, and it solved the problem. My NES is back in all its wondrous 8-bit glory.

got my ROB the other day. came with Gyromite and a complete set of gyros and holders and all that jazz. worked awesomely. fell in love. then my NES stopped working yesterday. fingers crossed that it's just the AC adapter, but if not i guess i'll be shelling out for another top loader.

just watched WCW Road Wild '98. is the nWo vs. Wolfpac vs. Goldberg Battle Royal the worst battle royal ever? it was terrible. Goldberg eliminated 6 of the 8 other competitors (Nash stepped over himself), lastly jackhammering the Giant. he speared Curt Hennig twice and the Giant once, otherwise he avoided everything. it just wasn't interesting. at all. and i skipped the Leno tag match (i'm not THAT big a glutton for punishment). otherwise, Meng vs Barbarian was a fun brawl. i enjoyed it. Public Enemy vs Disco Inferno/Alex Wright (w/Tokyo Magnum) wasn't very good. Raven vs. Saturn vs. Kanyon was a fun triple threat. Rey vs. Psychosis didn't really live up to hype. Chavo Guerrero Jr. vs. Stevie Ray was an entertaining pseudo-TV Title match. Rick Steiner vs. Scott Steiner doesn't happen and elicits boos. Brian "Crush" Adams vs Mongo McMichael was, as expected, not good. Jericho is awesome. his title defense against Juventud Guerrera was perfectly servicable but not fantastic. overall, some OK moments. nothing amazing. but man, those lows are SO bad.

partially because it was the first non-memorial ECW ppv AND didn't deliver. partly because there were next-to-no matches announced for the show. partly because Sabu was taken out of the chamber (and replaced by Bob Holly if i remember right). partly because on an ECW PPV, the only "ECW Original" that won was Balls Mahoney. partly because this show got Heyman fired from WWE, so it looks even WORSE in retrospect.

thanks for sharing! i've never heard of that either, but it was a great read.